What it Means to be Loved
by tiff0795
Summary: Based on the song by Mark Schultz.  Hiccup is turning eighteen.  That means he is stepping up as Chief.  Now he is having second thoughts.


**A/N This is dedicated to a friend of mine on a role playing account on face book. He plays as Hiccup and I play as Astrid. He is like a brother to me and his "birthday" is coming up. So this is his present. That means, no sharing this on face book and if anyone out there knows who I am talking about, do NOT tell him (that means you, Jenny and Jesse).**

**Song is a modified version of "What it Means to be Loved" by Mark Schultz. It is modified to fit the story line and I highly recommend you listen to the song. It is one hundred times better than my modified version and it is my favorite song. **

Hiccup downed another mug of mead. He was turning eighteen tomorrow. That meant Stoick was to turn over position as chief to him tomorrow at the ceremony. The stress was starting to get to him and he was taking the only thing to calm his nerves.

"You think you've had enough there?" Gobber asked. Hiccup had the whole counter full of empty mugs.

"It doesn't hurt you unless you drink it eight hours nonstop," Hiccup pointed out.

"But you're half way there," Gobber pointed out. Hiccup sighed. "You'll be a fine chief, don't worry."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Hiccup said. He put his head on the table and covered it with his arms.

"Then what ARE you worried about?" Gobber asked.

"It doesn't matter how good of a chief I am. I'm useless," Hiccup said from the refuge of his arms.

"No, you're not," Gobber said.

"Yes, I am. I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. 'Hiccup the useless' they always called me. It doesn't matter how much I succeed as Chief. I don't have the hero in me; they want someone who can be a hero. They don't want someone like me. Now, Snotlout, HE would be a good chief. As for me, I will always be Hiccup," the young Viking said, not looking up.

"Yes, you will always be Hiccup: 'Hiccup the Useful' the one and only son of Stoick the Vast. You used to be useless, but you have proven yourself," Gobber said.

"I'm an embarrassment to the tribe," Hiccup mumbled.

"Now you're just being silly. That's it, I'm cutting you off," Gobber said as he cleared the mugs.

"Am I really? My own mother won't even come back from her questing long enough to see me become chief," Hiccup said.

Gobber looked away. "Hiccup, she's been gone for eight years. I thought you had accepted she had probably passed away a long time ago."

"I did…" Hiccup mumbled.

"Then how could she possibly be there?" Gobber asked.

"Well, for her sake, if she's not there let's hope she's dead. If I find out that she was alive and she missed the ceremony…Berk will not have a happy chief." Hiccup mumbled.

"This sounds like something you need to talk to your father about," Gobber said.

Hiccup finally looked up with a sarcastic smirk on his face. "And tell him what? 'Dad, I don't want to be chief'. Great idea, Gobber! Not only will I be a disappointment to my mother, but to my father as well! I'll be exiled. That's just if he listens. HE NEVER LISTENS," Hiccup said.

"Hiccup, he loves you," Gobber said. Hiccup shook his head. Never once had he been said those words by anyone. "Promise me you'll talk to him."

Hiccup sighed. "Sure, Gobber, whatever," he said as he made his way out of the mead hall. The walk home was short as Hiccup figured out what he was going to say.

He walked in the door and saw his father sitting at the table and smiling. "Hey, son, enjoying your last day as a villager?" he asked.

Hiccup took a deep breath and mustered up all the self-confidence he could. "Dad, I don't want to be chief."

Stoick's smile quickly vanished from his face. "What do you mean you don't want to be chief?"

"Exactly that," Hiccup responded.

Stoick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Then say that tomorrow at the ceremony. When you normally would accept position as chief, hand it over to someone else."

Hiccup was shocked at how easy that was. "What…you're not going to give me this long speech about why I should be chief?"

"Being a chief, you have to make a lot of decisions based on what's best for the tribe. If you think this is what's best, then this is your first and last decision as Chief. I can not make that choice for you," Stoick said.

"I do think this is what's best. Not just for the tribe, but for me as well," Hiccup said.

"Then so be it," Stoick said.

With that weight lifted off of his shoulders, Hiccup felt suddenly exhausted. He tried to stifle a yawn and sought support from a chair. Stoick took him by the shoulder and walked him to his room.

"So, tell me, whatever happened between you and Astrid?" Stoick asked as he pulled back the blanket.

"I…uh…was thinking of asking her to Thor'sday Thursday this year," Hiccup said as he got into bed.

"So the spark is still there?" Stoick asked. Hiccup smirked and gave a faint nod. "Do you think you'll ever ask her…to…?"

"Take my name? Maybe I will," Hiccup said as he rolled over and closed his eyes.

Stoick walked out of the room.

The ceremony took place at three. Hiccup tried to drown himself in the crowd as much as possible. He did not want to be congratulated for a position that he was planning on giving up. It did not work out because five teens, the old gang, came out of nowhere and all but trampled him.

"Happy Birthday, Hiccup!" they all shouted at the top of their lungs.

"It's about time you came of age," said Snotlout, who was almost twenty-one.

"Well, I can only go so fast," Hiccup responded.

"You're the last one of us to turn eighteen," Tuffnut said.

"Talk to my parents. Tell then they shouldn't have waited to tie the knot," Hiccup said.

"They where just fine in their timing, it was you who was late," Ruffnut said.

"Well, excuse me for not getting my butt out of the womb faster," Hiccup said.

"Normally it's the baby's head that comes out first," Fishlegs said.

"Well…whatever, I couldn't get out any faster!" Hiccup said.

"Listen up, Hooligans. I am pleased to present for the final time Chief Stoick the Vast Oh hear his name and tremble," Gobber said. He gestured to the chief as an applaud came from the crowd.

Hiccup crossed his arms and suddenly became interested in the soil beneath his feet.

"As you all know, this is my son, Hiccup's eighteenth birthday. We are here to celebrate the coming of age. Today, I hand over my position as Chief of Berk to my son. This is a great honor to know my family name will be passed on. If you don't know this already, then get out!" Stoick said.

Everyone laughed except Hiccup. _Why is he doing all of this when he knows I won't accept it? _The laughter turned into cheering. Hiccup had to chuckle at the bugle off in the distance and the shouts of his uncle.

"Now…um…I know Vikings aren't what we would call singers…" Stoick started. Hiccup has heard Stoick sing. He wasn't going to win on Berk Idol, but he wasn't so bad that he would get booed off the stage. "And, after careful consideration from me and some of the people closest to him…we came up with a song."

Hiccup still did not look up. After all of this he did not know how he could not accept position. It would be like a spit in the face. Here he was hoping that he could at least stay a villager. If he rejected the position after all of this, he was likely to be thrown into exile.

_For five months, eight days_

_My wife and I had waited_

_Getting ready for our baby boy_

_But when he called the doctor said_

"_I need to see you_

_And could you come in soon?"_

_Well something died inside of me_

_To sit with him and hear_

_The test that said our baby may not live to be a year_

"_I should have died a while ago?" _Hiccup thought to himself. He looked around. This did not seem like news to any of them. Some of them even looked like they wish they could forget something. He had spent his life thinking he was normal now, so that must mean he was normal as a baby. He never would have guessed that he should not be standing there.

_And turning to my wife he said_

"_What do you want to do?"_

_And she said…_

_I want to give him the world_

_I want to hold his hand_

Hiccup looked up. Whoever sang those last two lines was definitely NOT his father. It was a beautiful voice of a woman. He knew that voice. The woman he saw next to his father made tears weld in his eyes and put a smile on his face. He turned to his friends.

"Did you guys know about this?" He mouthed. Everyone nodded.

"For eight years," Astrid mouthed. Hiccup wiped the tears from his eyes and looked back to Valhallarama, his mother.

_I want to be his mom_

_For as long as I can_

_And I want to live every moment_

_Until that day comes_

_I want to show him what it means to be loved_

"Happy Birthday, Hickey!" Valhallarama shouted. Hiccup laughed and waved. Stoick smiled and motioned for him to come up. Hiccup smiled and shook his head. His peers tried to push him but he was planted.

_So we spent each day_

_Watching every minute_

_And praying for our baby boy_

_And I will not forget_

_The way I felt that moment_

_When he came into this world_

_But they took him from the room_

_Just as soon as he was born_

_And watching through a window_

_I could see him holding on_

_When a voice inside me said_

_I want to give him the world _

_I want to be his dad_

_I want to hold him close_

_For as long as I can_

_And I want to live every moment_

_Until that day comes_

_I want to show him what it means to be loved_

Hiccup ran to his parents with tears streaming down his face. The crowd parted for the young Viking. Even if he was handicapped, his friends had to sprint to just stay behind him. Stoick and Valhallarama embraced their son. Hiccup held on to his mother as she sang.

_Well, ever since the day_

_We got to bring him home_

_He's been out to prove the doctors wrong_

_Oh, and you should see him now_

_He's as handsome as the Chief_

_And he thinks of a girl_

_As he lays in bed _

_The night before he turns eighteen_

Hiccup blushed and shot a glance at Astrid while everyone cheered. She smiled and crawled up onto the stage. Even though both had tears in their eyes, their smiles never left their faces. He would have hugged her, but he did not want to let go of Valhallarama. Astrid understood and hugged him from behind.

_And he wants to give her the world_

_And we know her the same_

_And some day he may give her his name_

_But he's gonna live every moment_

_Until that day comes_

_We're gonna show him what it means to be loved_

Stoick embraced his son for a long time. Astrid stepped out of the way to not get squished. "Well, we already know your answer, but I have to say it. Do you accept the position as Chief of Berk?" Stoick asked.

Hiccup looked around. It was a picture perfect moment. He had his father on one side, his mother on the other. People he had known all of his life in front of him. Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs stood in front of him. Astrid stood behind him. How could he ever think that these people where out to get him? The only thing that could make this better would be…

"NIGHT FURY!" Gobber yelled. Before everyone could duck, Toothless was making his way through the crowd. Dragons dispersed among the crowd of Vikings. Two people that where trying to keep the dragons back for the ceremony where running to try to round up the reptiles.

Toothless sat in front of Hiccup and gave him a big, gummy grin. Ruffnut turned around. "If you guys are going to try to keep ten feet long, fire breathing, flying reptiles under control, you're going to have to get better," she yelled. Stoick smiled. "So, Hiccup, what do you say?"

Hiccup turned to Stoick and nodded. He wanted to say something, anything, but he could not and hide the fact that he was laughing and crying at the same time.

The teens hopped onto the stage. Tuffnut slapped him on the back and Snotlout gave him a noogie. Fishlegs was trying to talk to him about what it means to be a chief and the chiefs before him. Ruffnut was telling Fishlegs to shut up because that was the last thing every one wanted to hear. Astrid mouthed "Happy Birthday".

"Thanks," Hiccup mouthed back. Toothless jumped onto the stage and the Vikings ran away from Hiccup like he had the black plague. Hiccup stood there like a deer in headlights as Toothless led a herd of dragons straight to him. The ones that could fly where doing flips in the air above him. All of the villagers "oh"-ed and "ah"-ed as some Nadders flew through a ring of fire. Toothless licked him. An unusually small, green Terrible Terror with a wart on his nose ran up his tunic, around his torso a few times and up to his head, where he planted himself and gave a rooster cry. Hiccup laughed and grabbed the small dragon on his head, but it wiggled out and perched itself on Hiccup's shoulder.

Stoick smiled and grabbed one of Hiccup's hands. "Then I am pleased to announce the next Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe," Stoick said. He lifted Hiccup's hand above his head. Astrid hugged him around his waist. Valhallarama grabbed his other hand and lifted it up. Toothless lay under his left arm and his friends behind him. Stoick shouted at the top of his lungs: "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III!"


End file.
